Although not their best album...
Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 03/28/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Wasp Star may have lacked much of the lyrical bite and rich arrangements of Apple Venus but it more than made up for these shortcomings. Wasp Star seems about as close to the bubblegum album (although it only contains one track from that proposed but still born album) as we are likely to get. The arrangements favor the band's power pop roots vs. their artier and harder edged material. The bulk of the material wouldn't have seemed out of place if it was released around the same time as Badfinger's Straight Up, Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything or the Raspberries debut.The demos for Wasp Star are a bit more of a problem. Most of Partridge's compostions differ very little from the finished arrangements from the album. Although a bit rougher with slightly different production touches, they aren't a huge departure compared to the final versions. Still there are a couple of tunes like Wounded Horse that actually sound better than the final version. The bluesy arrangement only benefits from the rougher textured quality of the demo.Colin Moulding's three tracks differ enough to make them very interesting. The keeper is It Didn't Hurt A Bit which was only available as an added track to the albums first single. This terrific little song deserves a place in the Xtc canon and should have appeared sooner. It's superior to a number of songs that did make the final cut on Nonesuch, Oranges and Lemons and even Wasp Star.If you're a hardcore Xtc fan (you probably wouldn't be reading this otherwise), you'll get this regardless of anyone's opinion. It's a great little album and you'll probably listen to it more than a couple of times. Is it worth the price for the import? It's a judgement call. It all depends on how complete you want your collection to be."
Track Listings (20) - Disc #1